, 1887-12-25
MENTAL FOOD FOR BOYS.
An Expert Tells How Sensational Stories
Are Put Together.

An Expert Tells How Sensational Stories
Are Put Together.
1.-THE writer of fiction for the young
has become an important branch of liter
allure, ?" said an old writer whose charm
ing stories have tickled n generation of
young people. at seems simple enough.
doesn't it, to draw a little upon the i'm
agination and spin out u lot of stuff about
Jimmy the Safe Cracker, or Bob the
Boy Detective, but some of the best
newspaper writers in this city have seized
the story writer quill with a sort of holy
enthusiasm-and have failed. One of
them whose heartrending tale was pub
llshed had the happiness of hearing him
self called n 'chump' by a gamin critic
who had just finished reading the effort.
Il guess this faculty of writing fiction
must come voluntarily to a person. l
have tried my hand at other branches of
literature, and have Immediately and
with great unanimity been pronounced
no good. Shortly afteI this rebuff a
story, telling of the almost superhuman
deeds of a young hero, appeared, and ever
since l have not been able to turn out
manuscripts quickly enough for the pub
fishers.
ION some days l can't, to save me.
SAASA' hHAN ~ IN sN OlIltl NlLllto l.
may worry through a paragraph, but on
reading it a second time l tear it up in
disgust. Nothing remains but to kwait
for an inspiration This does not come
from above, a gift from the gods, as is
vulgarly supposed, but is brought on by
a knowledge of the fact that the pub
Usher is waiting impatiently for the next
chapter of my story. When | once get
started the thoughts come almost too
quickly.
'Do l ever correct my copy? Well,
not much. l put the story together i'll
my Uranium and then spin it out, /
sometimes read it n second time and
change Il word occasionally. then off she
goes to the printer. We are not very
particular, anyway, since we are work
ing for Doodle, not for undying fame.
If we were to follow the advice of Horace
II lock up our manuscript for nine
years and then take il out and revise it, |
am afraid that bootblacks, messenger
boys and the young iii. general would 20
without intellectual food for some time.
That, however, might not prove a serious
blow to the community, for messages
would then in all probability be deliv-
cred promptly. Why, l have seen a
messenger boy, on whose f~leetness of foot
a fortune or probably a life depended,
standing on a corner for half an hour in
tensely absorbed in one of my compost
tons. Quite flattering to me, was it
not?
you think the increasing drain should
exhaust my storehouse of ideas. do you?
Let me inform you that it doubtless
would did l not learn something new
every day. l always make n note Of
everything strange ! see or hear, and
books and papers give me any number of
ideas which | mold to suit my readers
not my readers exactly. but the publish
cr's readers. We write to please but one
person, and he il that all powerful indi-
vidual who can take the story or return
it with thanks.
You want to know how we are paid?
Well, zone of us ever become million
aires, yet a person with ordinary talent
can always make a good living at the
~ business.
81 do all my writing in two or three
days of the week, and can make $40 or
$50 without exerting myself. The most
money | ever received for n story was
$500 for q little thing l finished in four
days. 1t was for n celebrated comedian
who, with my permission, erased my
name from the title page and inserted his
own. l don't know how much he re-
ceived for his name and my story.
Il think l en- doing as much good for
the young as many who make more pre-
tensions. Most of my stories are founded
on history, and probably impress truths
on youthful minds more forcibly than do
some of the professors who affect to de
spisc u profession so much. New
York Press.